Boot or shoe heel.



' No. 763,649. PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904.

-- M. WINANTS..

BOOT 0R SHOE HEEL. APPLIOATION'IILED SEPT. 11. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Patented June 28, 1904.

PATENT GEEICE.

MATHIEU VVINANTS, OF LIEGE, BELGIUM.

BOOT 0R SHOE HEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,649, dated June 28, 1904. Application filed September 11,1903. Serial No. 172,756. (No model.)

To all whom. itmay concern.-

Be it known that I, MATHIEU WINANTS, a subject of the King of Belgium, residing at Liege, Belgium, have-invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot or Shoe Heels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention hasrelation to attachments or means whereby the treads of the heels of boots and shoes are rendered detachable and interchangeable without the aid of tools.

Regarding the heel of a boot or shoe as being formed from a series of superimposed layers and supposing the same to be separable horizontally into two parts at any of the layers whatsoever, then the object of the present invention is to provide means of attachment which will admit of the two parts i. 6., the fixed part and the tread part being instantaneously and securely connected. The means of attachment hitherto devised for this purpose have been gravely defective inasmuch that same did not fix the loose or interchangeable portion of the heel securely in all directions, and particularly in the longer direction of the boot or shoe, this being the direction in which the greatest strains are exerted in walking.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a plate adapted to be attached to the fixed portion of the heel. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a plate adapted to be attached to the plate of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan View of a plate adapted to be attached to the separable portion of the heel. Fig. 4: is a plan view showing the plates adapted to be secured to the fixed portion of the heel. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 00 j/ of Fig. 4. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the plate and detachable portion of the heel. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 3 w of Fig. 5.

Fig. 6 is a section of a heel provided withmy.

invention, and Fig. 7 is an elevation of a heel.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a metallic plate a, cut out to the form of a heel and pierced with a series of countersunk holes 0 to take the nails for aflixing same to the fixed heel portion Aaud also with a central hole 0, which is notcountersunk. This plate is also pierced with a U- shaped slit 9, thus forming a flexible tongue or part, which carries a semicylindrical or semiconical projection, which stands up from the plate in the inverse direction to the sinkings surrounding the holes 0.

Fig. 2 represents a circular plate 5, pierced with a plain central hole d and with countersunk holes a, corresponding, respectively, to the holes 0 and 0 of the plate, and provided at its edge with a gap or cleft f, formed by slitting the metal.

Fig. 3 shows a heel-shaped plate g, having a circular opening of slightly less diameter than that of the circular plate 6. This third plate is also pierced with countersunk holes 7: for alfixing the same to the detachable heel portion G; also, with a rectangular gap at t and with a cleft 72. at the edge of the circular opening.

The sinkings surrounding the holes-0, a, and 2' of the plates at, Z), and g' serve to receive and conceal the heads of the aiiixing-nails, which thus lie flush with the said plates. The two plates (0 and b are affixed, one on top of the other, to that part A. of the heel carried by the boot, and at the right-hand side of which there is formed a-cavity corresponding to the flexible part .9, and so arranged that the projection r may be engaged therewith by slight pressure. 7

The device is completed by a pivot 19, carried by the thickness of leather of the interchangeable portion G of the heel and fixed in the center of the plate g. With this arrangement, in orderto adapt the movable part,

at the inner edge of the plate g is taken the plate boutward of the nails it, and by continuing the rotation the projection s on the spring-tongue of the plate a is made to take or snap into the rectangular opening zfof the plate 9, and thereby the said plate and the tread portion of the heel by which it is carried are held fast against movement in either direction. In this way the interchangeable part of the heel is absolutely fixed in such a manner that it cannot be rotated in either direction. Further, the movable part of the heel takes a bearing in all directions against the fixed part and all inadvertent rotation is thereby prevented. If, however, it is required to lift away or detach one movable part to enable same to be replaced, this can be elfected by disengaging the projection s from the opening 2,, which may be done by introducing any suitable pointed instrument or the blade of a knife between the two metallic plates at the side of the heel and then turning the detachable part in a negative directi0n-vl a, in the opposite direction to the movement of the hands of a watchwhen the interlocking edges of the plates?) and g become disengaged and the interchangeable tread is disconnected or freed from the other part of the heel. It is, nevertheless, desirable to prevent the plate g making the complete rotation, as if the part of larger diameter in the one plate is passed entirely round to the other side of the smaller plate it becomes impossible to disconnect the parts. This may also happen if by inadvertence the projections become disengaged from the opening 25 by rotating the interchangeable part in the positive direction. This inconvenience can be obviated by placing a nail or point It in advance of the cleft or entrance H of the plate g, so that the cleft part f of the plate Z) cannot pass over or beyond the same when being rotated in the positive direction. This pointk facilitates the centering of the parts when being placed in position and prevents all sliding (however slight) of the plates, seeing that it takes a bearing against the sides of the holes 0 and (Z, pierced in the metallic plates.

It is clear that the disposition of the yielding or spring stop 8 maybe modified and that certain parts of the plates (0, 5, and g may be provided with auxiliary means designed to prevent the eventual separation or opening out of the plates.

The plates which are shown in the drawings attached to the fixed part of the heel may equally well be carried on the movable part, and those shown attached to the movable part may be secured to the fixed part.

While I have described my invention in connection with heels for boots and shoes, it is manifest that it may be used in other connections for which it is adapted without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent 1s 1. Means for attaching separable and interchangeable treads to the heels of boots and shoes, comprising a metallic plate a attached to the fixed portion of the heel, a circular plate 5 superimposed on the first plate and having a single cleft or gap f at its peripheral edge, and a plate g attached to the separable and interchangeable heel portion and provided with a central hole of less diameter than the circular plate 0, and provided at its edge with a single cleft 01' gap 11, whereby the cleft of said plate 9 can engage with the corresponding cleft f of the plate 6 and be rotated to bring the separable heel portion into position and offer an extended bearing therefor, requiring practically a complete rotation to disengage the same, substantially as described.

2. Means for attaching separable and interchangeable treads to the heels of boots and shoes, comprising a metallic plate a attached to the fixed portion of the heel and provided with a flexibly-supported stop a, a circular plate 6 superimposed on the first plate and having a cleft or gap f at its peripheral edge, and a plate 9 carried by the separable and interchangeable heel portion and provided with a central hole of less diameter than the circular plate 6 and provided at its edge with a cleft 0r gap 72. and with a recess 25, whereby the cleft of said plate g can engage with the corresponding cleft f of the plate 6 and be retated to bring the separable heel portion into position and allow the stop a to engage with the recess 2? in the plate 0, substantially as described.

3. Means for attaching separable and interchangeable treads to the heels of boots and shoes, comprising a metallic plate a attached to the fixed portion of the heel and provided with a flexibly-supported stop .9 and a central hole 0, a circular plate 7/ superimposed on the first plate and having a cleft or gap f at its peripheral edge and a central hole (Z, a plate g carried by the separable and interchangeable heel portion and provided with a central hole of less diameter than the circular plate MATHIEU VINANTS.

l Vitnesses:

J. Gnoss, VICTOR SAMUEL. 

